


Mourning the Unexpected Loss

by inabodycastofglass



Series: Old works [26]
Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, alternate ending scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 10:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11206440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabodycastofglass/pseuds/inabodycastofglass
Summary: Only Natalia knew who'd returned.





	Mourning the Unexpected Loss

**** He was back. It really was him. She knew when she’d locked eyes with him. Everyone else still thought he was Luke, and he was. But inside those eyes were more. There was pain, years of pain and loss. There wasn’t a deep seeded smile and clinging to the friendship of the room like a lifeboat. And when he looked at her, there wasn’t the friendship and trust they’d built in their year of journeying together. Instead there was hope, only for a second, and then it was gone, replaced with fear. And when he smiled at her, she knew he saw the gears in her head clicking into place, and the easiness of the smile faded, and it was only dark.

Yes, this was Asch.

She looked around the room to see who else knew. Jade knew. Jade had probably figured it out the moment he spoke. Jade knew everything. Tear had an idea. He was being too distant. Luke had always trusted without much thought, though he would never admit it to himself. He and Natalia were so very similar in that sense. Guy didn’t know, neither did Anise. When they got back home, would his parents know this time? Would she even know if she weren’t looking?

She mourned Luke’s loss. Perhaps he had given up his place at life for Asch, though Asch would never have accepted it. He would say Luke was only seven when he disappeared. Though Asch was only almost eighteen, his birthday just a few weeks away. He would say Luke was more suited to this life than he was, but they were both suited for it the same, in different ways. Asch was born to be king, and he never lost that quality; the fine line between selfish and selfless was his most prevalent quality. Luke saw that. He had such an easy lightness with people that made him a hero, if only he’d had room to grow it.

So she mourned him. Not the same way she would have mourned Asch, with tears and hiding away and a broken heart. She mourned him like she’d mourn a best friend. He was her best friend, after all, even if he’d had a best friend in someone else. The two were the same, really. Under the way they were raised, her for her country, and him as a child, they were the same. She would remember randomly their foolish games as children. When she would get depressed, that inborn kindness he possessed would surface and he would take her to play a prank on Guy, and help her be a child for just a few minutes. And when they would fight, she would find him and apologise, because she knew he never would, and he would say okay and let her hug him. She would never have those times back. She knew that before, but now it seemed so final. She had lost more than a best friend, she realised, she’d lost the other half of herself.

So she cried. And, while everyone tried to comfort her, so sure she was crying again over the loss of her love, she couldn’t seem to stop. No matter what, these tears would come, because everyone was precious to her. Even when Asch reached a hand out to her, only to reach back because he had no idea how to deal with her when she cried, she couldn’t bring herself to feel better. When Jade said, “well, I could always slap you and see if that works”, she laughed, but she didn’t stop. She’d mourned their loss before, but it had only been temporary, like they were going away for a while, and she didn’t know when they’d be back. Only now did death really sink in.


End file.
